Fast and agile decision-making is easier than you think says Lee Clarke of Allocate. Here he sums up the multiple benefits of automated Workforce Management

At first glance, effective workforce scheduling and resource management are time consuming and complicated – especially for organisations with large, multi-skilled teams of people operating in some of the most challenging and fast-moving environments in the world. Too many companies use spreadsheets or outdated, home grown solutions which do not meet the needs of a 21st century workforce. At Allocate, ensuring the right people and equipment are in the right place at the right time, safely and cost-effectively, is our business and our passion. Our track record with 25 years’ experience in supporting customers in industries where legislative compliance, health & safety and the deployment of scarce, expensive and highly qualified resources are top priorities, illustrates our pedigree.

Strong heritage with designs for the future
We started out serving high-profile defence, offshore and maritime organisations such as NATO, McDermott Inc., Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and A.P. Møller Mærsk. As our experience grew, it became clear that many other industries could benefit from Allocate’s knowledge and innovative technology to develop fast and efficient workforce and resource optimisation strategies. With our focus always on continual innovation, we also recognised the value of offering a cloud-based solution and invested in new scalable Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) architecture that saves on infrastructure costs and capital expenditure, to create Allocate OneView. When combined with our powerful customer success methodology, we knew we had a winning formula to bring tangible, all-round value.

 

Overcome key challenges with Allocate OneView
Organisations working in highly complex and often dangerous industries typically share a common set of challenges including:

• Limited visibility of globally available skilled staff or siloed departments and geographies working in isolation – making it difficult to deploy the right people, to the right place at the right time
• Spreadsheet overload– multiple versions of the truth, which are often out-of-date, prone to error and time-consuming
• Problems with travel management and keeping track of expiring documentation – causing delays that negatively impact the timely execution of complex projects and decrease client satisfaction levels
• Issues with compliance – the inability to track compliance with important health and safety or employment legislation can lead to heavy financial penalties, damaged corporate reputations and lost customers
• Poor employee engagement – reduces productivity levels and increases attrition levels leading to higher recruitment costs
• Costs that are spiralling out of control – through lack of visibility of workforce and other assets.

All the above are barriers to fast and agile decision making.

 

A single solution – multiple benefits for fast and strategic decision-making
If you recognise any of these challenges, it’s time to consider Allocate OneView. OneView helps organisations address key resource management and scheduling challenges. It drives dynamic strategic decision-making, the first step towards enhanced management control, effective compliance, greater staff engagement, increased performance and business planning continuity all through one single integrated view of workforce and resource data.

 

Use Allocate OneView to benefit from:

1. Advanced planning – a complete enterprise-wide view of available skillsets, resources and projects which provides a dynamic understanding of the demands on personnel and assets anywhere in the world. This aids the development of fast and efficient schedules, providing planners with a longer planning horizon and the tools needed to deal with changes and exceptions over time as quickly and efficiently as possible.
2. A comprehensive skills matrix– that instantly reveals all staff competencies, qualifications, licenses and experience. Whether it’s for auditing purposes, training requirements, project planning or documentation checks, the skills matrix is always available for all locations at the click of a button.
3. Travel readiness – make sure staff have up-to-date visas, passports and vaccinations wherever they are, even in remote locations and as they move between different countries and time zones. Protect their data so that only authorised users can access scanned images or uploaded documentation on a needs basis, to ensure staff get where they need to go, on time and to budget.
4. Effective compliance management – take advantage of a valuable built-in audit capability, giving the hard evidence necessary to track and ensure compliance with stringent and constantly evolving health and safety requirements or important data legislation such as GDPR, accelerating the organisation’s overall auditing process.
5. Greater staff engagement– as a result of empowering employees through self-service capability. Staff can update key personal information online, upload requested documents, view schedules, book time off and receive notifications of important changes. Empowered and informed employees are better motivated leading to improved morale and productivity.
6. Enduring workforce relationships – between employee and employer by providing a well-defined career path for employees. By showing an interest and planning for the future, an organisation stands a better chance of retaining its skilled people. A well-maintained skills matrix provides evidence to employees of the commitment to their careers by illustrating how they can move along their chosen career path.
7. Predictive planning – track changes in resource management over time to analyse current capabilities, model for future requirements and cope with demand variance and a shifting regulatory landscape.
8. Automatic email alerts – highlight and notify management of potential critical issues that need to be addressed enabling them to take proactive remedial action and avert crisis situations.
9. Real-time reporting – quickly access a central source of dynamic data to support informed management decisions. Improved decision-making and greater cost control in one go. Use our built in dashboarding and reporting tools or link to your own business intelligence tools.
10. Powerful integration capabilities – make it easy to find relevant HR, finance and Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) data swiftly and efficiently using our open API. Being cloud-based, Allocate OneView is also accessible on the move, anytime, from anywhere in the world using a mobile device. Security of your data is our top priority and we utilise the most secure and trusted cloud-based providers.
11. Impressive professional services credentials – mean you don’t have to go it alone. Allocate’s experienced Customer Success team works closely with customers to develop tailored solutions and interfaces to meet critical workforce optimisation needs while ensuring delivery programs are executed on time and on budget.

Whether you are a growing business that requires a modern system that can scale to your needs or a legacy system that is expensive and no longer meets your requirements, now is the time to request a demo and start the conversation. Invest in Allocate OneView to address key resource management and scheduling challenges to drive dynamic operational and strategic decision-making. You’ll never look back! To book an online demo, click here, call us on +44 (0)20 7355 5555 or contact us at [email protected]

Lee Clarke is General Manager, US/EMEA at Allocate

Click here to watch the Why OneView video